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THE 



Virginia Magazine 

OF 

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY 



Vol. XXVIII October, 1920 No. 4 



DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE BOUNDARIES 
OF THE NORTHERN NECK 



From the Originals in the British Public Record Office. 
Contributed by Charles E. Kemper. 



[By a series of grants from the Crown beginning in 1650, 
by Charles II, then in exile, the Northern Neck, that is, the 
country between the Rappahannock and Potomac to their head- 
waters, was granted to various individuals. Finally the titles 
all became vested in Thomas, Lord Culpeper, and to him, on 
Sept. 27, 1688, James II, made a new grant for all the country 
"bounded by and within the heads of the Rivers Tappahannock 
alias Rappahannock and Queenough or Potomac River". This 
great property descended to Culpeper's daughter and heiress, 
who married Lord Fairfax, and, in 1722, to her son Thomas, 
Lord Fairfax, who afterwards removed to Virginia. 

Long controversies were carried on between the proprietors 
of the Northern Neck and the Government of the Colony of 
Virginia representing the Crown, as to the true "heads" of 
the two rivers. As it flowed through country more accessible 
to settlement from the East, the question of the Rappahannock 









298 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 



seemed at the time to be the most important. There was a 
long contest as to whether the South branch (the Rapidan) 
or the North branch of the Rappahannock was the true head. 
The matter was finally left to a joint commission representing 
the Crown and Lord Fairfax. 

After careful surveying and the taking of much evidence, 
the Commission made a report in 1736. This report was 
taken to England and a final decision given in favor of Fair- 
fax. In the matter of the Rappahannock it was decided that 
the true "head" was the Conway River, a branch of the 
Rapidan. 

Under the construction finally given to the Culpeper-Fairfax 
grant it included the present counties of Northumberland, Lan- 
caster, Richmond, Westmoreland, Stafford, King George, 
Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier, Culpeper, Madi- 
son, Page, Shenandoah and Frederick in Virginia, and Jeffer- 
son, Berkeley, Hardy, Hampshire and Morgan in West Vir- 
ginia. For additional information see this Magazine XV, 
392-399 and authorities there cited. 

The map 1 accompanying these documents is a reduced copy 
of the upper section of the map giving the boundaries as finally 
settled. We are indebted to Mr. Fairfax Harrison for a photo- 
graphic fac-simile of the original in the Library of Harvard 
University. The lower section of the original map comprises 
the Northern Neck below the head of tidewater. To reproduce 
the whole here would make it so small as to be of little value. 

1 This map is listed as No. 169a in Swem's Maps of Virginia and 
is noticed in Phillip's Virginia Cartography, p. 46. It appears from 
Col. Byrd's papers relating to the settlement of the Northern Neck 
Boundaries (which are reproduced at length in "Wynne's edition 
but not in Bassett's) that the Byrd commission and the Fairfax 
commission each made a separate map (Wynne II, 122, 132). The 
Byrd map was drawn by Wm. Mayo (Wynne II, 116, 122) and that 
seems to be Swem's No. 161. This Harvard map is undoubtedly the 
Fairfax map, in a second state, to show the line of the award of 
1746. It is the same as Swem's No. 169 and, if so, where does Swem 
get his authority for attributing it to Peter Jefferson and Robert 
Brooke? A comparison of this map with Fry and Jefferson's map 
of 1751 shows that whoever drew the Harvard map knew much 
more of the local topography (of Fauquier e. g.) than did the 
authors of the Fry and Jefferson map of 1751, and it seems unlikely 
therefore, that Peter Jefferson ever had much to do with the Har- 
vard map. (F. H.) 



BOUNDARIES OF THE NORTHERN NECK 299 

The documents published below were procured by Mr. 
Kemper from London as material for his study of the history 
of the western portion of Virginia. The readers of our Maga- 
zine have already been under a heavy debt of obligation to 
Mr. Kemper for his exceedingly valuable notes to the series 
of articles entitled "The Westward Movement in Virginia" 
(published in vols. XI and XII) and as collaborating with Dr. 
Hinke in editing the diaries of the Moravian missionaries who 
travelled through the western portion of the Colony, which 
was one of the most valuable contributions ever made to the 
Magazine. 

We have other valuable papers from Mr. Kemper which will 
be published at an early date.] 

Letter From Governor Gooch, 1729 2 . 
\ 
My Lords 

1 have not had the honor of any Commands from your Lord- 
ships by any of the Ships come hither this year = my last Dis- 
patch was by the Randolph of London in which were conveyed 
the Council Journals and other publick Transactions to that 
time, of which I herein inclose a Duplicate. With this your 
Lordships will receive the Journals of the Council from the 
first of Aprill to the 12 th Instant, together with the Accompts 
of the Revenue of Quit Rents and two shillings per Hogshead 
ending in Aprill, and the Returns of the Naval Officers. 

Sometime after my Last a number of Negroes, about fiftenn, 
belonging to a new Plantation on the head of James River 
formed a Design to withdraw from their Master and to fix 
themselves in the fastnesses of the neighbouring Mountains: 
They had found means to get into their possession some Arms 
& Ammunition, and they took along with them some provi- 

2 Besides the discussion of the boundaries of the Northern Neck, 
this long letter from Governor Gooch to the English authorities, 
contains a good many other matters of interest. Among them are: 
a negro plot, training of the militia, a notice of the neighboring 
Indians, a plague of caterpillars, the services of the chaplain (Mr. 
Fontaine) with the Virginia and North Carolina boundary commis- 
sion, the Tobacco trade, and the freeing of a negro in return for 
his making public his secret cure for venereal disease. 



300 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 

sions, their Cloaths, bedding- and working Tools; but the 
Gentleman to whom they belonged with a Party of Men made 
such a diligent pursuit after them, that he soon found them 
out in their new Settlement, a very obscure place among the 
Mountains, where they had already begun to clear the Ground, 
and obliged them after exchanging a shot or two by which one 
of the Slaves was wounded, to surrender and return back, 
and so prevented for this time a design which might have 
proved as dangerous to this Country, as is that of the Negroes 
in Jamaica to the Inhabitants of that Island, Tho' this attempt 
has happily been defeated, it ought nevertheless to awaken 
us into some effectual measures for preventing the like here- 
after, it being certain that a very small number of Negroes 
once settled in those Parts, would very soon be encreas'd by 
the Accession of other Runaways and prove dangerous Neigh- 
bours to our Frontier Inhabitants. To prevent this and many 
other mischiefs I am training and exercising the Militia in 
the several Counties as the best means to deter our Slaves 
from endeavouring to make their Escape, and to suppress 
them if they should ; and as the Establishment I made of an 
Adjutant to discipline the Militia is much to the satisfaction 
of the People, and like to prove very useful towards their 
safety and Defence, I doubt not your Lordships will approve 
of that part of my conduct, for, it is to this new Regulation 
of the Militia, and the good disposition of the Officers I have 
now appointed to instruct those under their Command in the 
exercise of Arms that we owe the present peace with our 
tributary Indians ; who sometime before were become very 
turbulent and ungovernable, but are now so submissive, how 
long that temper will continue I can't say, that one of the great 
Men of the Saponie Nation having killed an Englishman, tho' 
the murder was committed when he was drunk, which they 
look upon as a just excuse, because, as they say, a Man is not 
accountable for what he did while he is deprived of his reason. 
Yet they readily delivered him up to justice upon my first 
message, and he has been since tryed and executed without any 
sign of resentment from that Nation altho' he was in much 



BOUNDARIES OF THE NORTHERN NECK 301 

esteem among them. I had ordered some of the Nation to be 
at the tryal, who did attend, and by an Interpreter were made 
to understand that the Proceedings in the Court against Him 
were the same as in the like case they would be against a White 
Man, and indeed so it hap'ned that there was one try'd and 
executed with Him. 

The eagerness of the Inhabitants to take up Lands amongst 
the great Western Mountains, has renewed a Contest, which 
for a long time had layn dormant touching the Right of grant- 
ing the Lands on the Head of Rappahanock River, the Pro- 
prietor of the Northern Neck claims the same by virtue of his 
Grant; and I find former Governours made no scruple to sign 
Patents for Lands as far as the most Northern Branch of Rap- 
pahanock River : But for my better direction therein, I have 
now before me a Letter from your Lordships dated March 26 th 
1707 the twelfth Paragraph of which I am governed by and 
intend now to answer, "in being very watchful that his 
Majesty's Lands be not invaded under any pretence of a Grant 
to any Proprietor", agreeable hereunto, I have absolutely re- 
fused the suspension of granting of Patents, notwithstanding 
the remonstrances of the Proprietor's Agent ; but proposed 
that the Case should be fairly stated and determined according 
to the genuine Construction of the Proprietor's Charter, which 
'tis agreed shall be prepared and transmitted to your Lord- 
ships for that purpose. In the meanwhile, to give your Lord- 
ships a clearer Idea of the Lands in controversy, I herewith 
send a sketch of that part of the Country which lies near and 
amongst the Mountains, watered by Streams which fal into 
the Rivers Rappahanock and Potomack, and which are in- 
sisted on to be within the Northern Neck Grant as head 
springs of those two Rivers, the Draught is not offered to 
your Lordships as accurately done : But by it your Lordships 
may please to observe, that the River Rappahanock, which 
from the Bay of Chesapeak is navigable to the Falls, is about 
tenn Miles above the Falls divided into two Branches, and 
those again about thirty Miles upwards divided into other 
Branches, and so the nearer they approach the Mountains into 



302 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 

other lesser Streams, so that it is scarce possible to distinguish 
which of them ought to bear the name of a River. Here it is 
that the Lands now in dispute ly : But as the last Grant made 
in 1688 to the Lord Culpeper, which is the most extensive, de- 
scribes "the Territory to be bounded by and within the first 
Heads or Springs of the Rivers Rappahanock & Potomack, 
the courses of the said Rivers from the first said Heads or 
Springs as they are commonly called and known by the In- 
habitants, and description of those Parts" — it seems a doubt 
whether the Proprietor can claim any farther upon these 
Rivers than what was called Rappahanock and Potomack 
Rivers at the time of the Grant; and that was only as far as 
they are Navigable, for above that there was then no Inhabi- 
tant: or at most, whether the Grant shall extend any further 
than the River Rappahanock continues one entire Stream. 
For since the River is formed by the confluence of two lesser 
ones not discovered till long after the Proprietor's Charter, 
and those of such equal bigness as to render it doubtful which 
of them deserves the name of Rappahanock River; and since 
there cannot be two Rivers of the same name, and as neither 
of them is described in the Grant, with submission to your 
Lordships, it seems to me the most natural construction of 
that Charter, to fix its limits at the confluence of those two 
Rivers, where Rappahanock is first formed, and from thence 
runs in one continued Stream into the Bay of Chesapeak ; 
And as Potomack River is the boundary between the Province 
of Maryland and the Northern Neck, and the first fountain of 
that River laid down in the Charter of the Former, and the 
first Head or Spring thereof as the Boundary of Both to the 
Westward ; I must still presume to say, that wherever the 
Proprietors of Maryland and of the Northern Neck agree to 
fix the first Fountain or Spring of Potomack River, a line 
drawn thence to Rappahanock River must terminate the 
Northern Neck Patent ; and then all the Lands lying west- 
ward of that remains still in the power of the Crown to grant. 
But if on the other hand all the Lands which ly on any of 
those Rivulets or Brooks which fall into Rappahanock or 



BOUNDARIES OF THE NORTHERN NECK 303 

Potomack Rivers be allowed to belong- to the Proprietor of 
Northern Neck as his Agent pretends, the King will then have 
very little more Land to dispose of in Virginia. For your 
Lordships may please to observe by the enclosed Draught that 
one of the Branches of Potomack River which is now known 
by the name of the River Shenundo, runs through and paralel 
with the great ridge of Mountains, and is said to have its 
source near Roanoke River ; So that almost the Tract which is 
now called Virginia is encompass'd and bounded by that River, 
and the Proprietor instead of being circumscribed by and 
within the Head of Rappahanock will extend his Bounds up- 
wards of Sixty Miles to the Southward of it, which can never 
be imagined, I think, to have been the intention of the Crown, 
nor agreeable to the words of the Charter. Seeing therefore 
my Lords it is of importance to his Majesty with respect to 
his Revenue of Quit Rents, and of no small concern to the 
People of Virginia, who are very averse to the taking up of 
Lands under a Proprietor, I thought it my duty to let your 
Lordships thus far into the Merits of this Case by way of 
Advance, that if it be thought necessary I may receive your 
Lordships Opinion and Direction therein before the matter 
comes to be stated between Me and the Proprietor's Agent, 
which I apprehend will require some time to adjust, because I 
shall not easily agree to Facts of the truth whereof I am not 
perfectly convinced. 

As the Journal of Council and Proclamation herewith sent 
mention the dreadful apprehensions this Colony again lay 
under from the Caterpillars ; it is fit that I should now in- 
form your Lordships, that by the peculiar favour of Heaven 
that danger is now over without any other consequence than 
the destruction of some Orchards and Timber. 
I forgot in my last among the Allowances for the Gentlemen 
employed in running the Boundaries to mention that of a 
Chaplain whom I appointed to attend that Service, and who 
deserves his Majesty's consideration when the Payment of 
that Work shall be ordered. It was very necessary that a 
Clergyman should be sent out with such a number, when they 



304 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 

were to pass through a Country where they could not have 
the oppurtunity of attending the Public Worship; and the 
Report that Gentleman made to me sufficiently proves how 
well he answers my purpose in sending of him; for he Chris- 
tened above an hundred Children, a great many adult Persons, 
and preached to Congregations who have never had publick 
Worship since their first Settlement in those Parts ; such is 
the unhappy State of those poor Inhabitants who possess the 
borders of our neighbouring Province, in which, there is not 
one Minister. 

I have herewith sent your Lordships a List of the Military 
Officers in this Province ; and as soon as the severel Troops 
and Companies are adjusted, I shall transmit the List of their 
officers and number of Men. 

As the state of the Tobacco Trade calls for a speedy Rem- 
edy, as well to prevent an apparent Loss to his Majesty's Rev- 
enue, as a great Blow to the Manufacturers of Great Brittain, 
if the Planters discouraged from making of Tobacco by the 
lowness of the Price, should be driven to the Necessity of 
laying that aside, and should provide themselves with their 
own Cloathing from the Materials this Country affords, since 
their Tobacco will no longer supply them ; what immediately 
follows is part of a Letter I have sent by this conveyance to 
the Duke of Newcastle, in compliance with what I promised 
his Grace in a former Letter, of which I sent your Lordships 
a Copy. 

"It is evident that the Duty have (sic.) and is a strong tempta- 
tion to Many to contrive all possible ways of defrauding the 
Crown by running the Tobacco in Great Brittain: and the 
success they have had therein, has likewise given occasion to 
buying up all the mean and trash Tobacco, purchased here by 
Agents and Sailors who well know how to dispose of it with- 
out paying any Duty. And this sort of Traffique has encour- 
aged the Planters to cure a great deal or all of their Trash, 
which otherwise must have been thrown away. Thus is the 
Market for the good Tobacco damp'd by the fraudulent im- 



BOUNDARIES OF THE NORTHERN NECK 305 

portation of the Bad, and the fair Trader and honest & indus- 
trious Planter greatly discouraged. 

I have taken some pains to find out a Remedy for this great 
Evill, and to that purpose have consulted divers of the prin- 
cipal Inhabitants of this Province as well Merchants as others, 
and find it generally agreed that the only effectual means to 
prevent the Abuse which long since crept into this Trade, will 
be to bring all the Tobacco under a strict examination by 
sworn Officers, before it be allowed to be ship'd of for Great 
Brittain ; that all that is found Bad be destroy'd and None 
exported but what is really good and Merchantable, and that 
an Ace 1 of the true weight of every Hogshead or Cask shall 
be transmitted to the Commissioners of his Majesty's Customs, 
by which the fraudulent Practice of breaking open of hogs- 
heads and running of the Tobacco may be more easily detected 
and prevented. I now send to your Lordships also, the Heads 
of what I humbly propose for the improvement of the Tobacco 
trade, hoping that when your Lordships have consider'd them, 
they may be approved and immediately put in Practice, either 
by obtaining his Majesty's Letters Mandatory to the Governors 
of Virginia & Maryland to pass them into Laws, or, which 
would be much more efficacious, an Act of Parliament to put 
all the Tobacco made in the Plantations under the Regulation 
therein proposed ; for it must be confess'd that though the 
judicious and honest part of the People here are well inclined 
to these measures, there are too many of a different Charac- 
ter, who are ready to oppose everything that is not suited to 
their narrow Conceptions and private Views. If these pro- 
posals are thought by your Lordships to deserve encourage- 
ment, and to pass in the Parliament, there is one thing not 
mention'd that must be provided for, and that is, the Nomina- 
tion of the Officers to inspect the Tobacco, who must be Men 
of Character & Understanding in that Commodity, which may 
be left, unless your Lordships shal order otherwise, to the 
Appointment of the Governours, who must also ascertain their 
Sallarys in proportion to their Trouble ; for some Places where 



306 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 

Storehouses must be built, will have much more Tobacco 
brought to them than others. 

What I have to add I hope will not be unacceptable, since 
'tis to inform your Lordships that upon the Bruit of many 
wonderful Cures performed by a Negro Slave in the most in- 
veterate Venerial Distempers, I thought it might be of use to 
mankind, if by any fair Method I could prevail upon him to 
discover to me the Means by which such Cures were effected, 
which the Negro had for many years practiced in this Coun- 
try, but kept as a most profound Secrett ; as the Fellow is very 
old, my endeavours were quicken'd lest the Secrett should 
dye with him: therefore I immediately sent for him, and by 
good words and a promise of setting him free, he has made an 
ample discovery of the whole, which is no other than a 
Decoction of the Root and Barks I have sent over to a Phisi- 
tian, that the Colledge may have the opportunity what effect it 
will have in England; and I flatter myself, by the Ingenuity 
of the Learned in that Profession, it may be reduced into a 
better draught than he makes of it, which they tell me is 
nauseous enough, the difference of Climate may probably 
cause a difference in its operation ; but there is no room to 
doubt of its being a certain Remedy here, and of singular use 
among the Negroe's who are frequently tainted with that 
Disease, (for I made a tryal of the things by the hands of a 
Surgeon here, before I purchased his freedom, the whole 
charge of which costs the Government about £60 ster) and is 
well worth the Price that has been paid for it, since we know 
how to cure Slaves without the aid of Mercury, who were 
often ruined by the unskilfulness of the Practitioners this 
Country affords. At the worst my Lords I hope it will be 
deemed a laudable Attempt, and be an encouragement for one 
of D r Ratcliffe's travelling Phisitians to take a tour into this 
part of the World, where there are many valuable discoveries 
to be made, not to be mett with in France or Italy. 

It is so long since we received any Advices from England, 
and those of the latest date speaking with great uncertainty 



BOUNDARIES OF THE NORTHERN NECK 307 

as to Peace or War, I thought it absolutely necessary to lay an 
Embargo to the end of this moneth : this may possibly raise a 
Clamour, especially if things are quiett among those Merchants 
whose Ships were ready to sayle sooner ; but I did it my Lords 
to give an oppertunity to the most valuable Ships to form a 
Fleet for their greater Security, and not doubting but by that 
time in case of a War, Convoys would be order'd for them. 
But his Majesty's Ship the Ludlow Castle is oppertunely 
arrived here, and intends to accompany them in their Passage 
Home. And it happened very luckily that this Embargo was 
laid in time, since we have been alarmed by a Spanish Pri- 
vateer's being upon the Coast, by the Deposition sent me from 
Hampton as follows 

The Deposition of John Pitts Master of the Sloop Dolphin 
of Bermuda, Who says that he sayled from Bermuda the 31 st 
day of May last in the Sloop Dolphin burthen twenty five 
Tonns, no Guns & five Men, that on the eight of June follow- 
ing He saw in the Lat. of 37 d :i8 m about 12 leagues East from 
Cape Charles a large Sloop which gave him Chase and fired 
two Guns at Him and pursued him till Night ; that he believes 
him to be a Spanish Privateer and that he is now lying off the 
Cape, and further this Deponent saith not. 
taken & sworn to before me Signed John Pitt 

this 9 th day of June 1729 
Wilson Cary 

Naval Off : 
I have nothing more to trouble your Lordships with at 
present, but to repeat the Assurance with which I am 
My Lords 

Your Lordships Most faithful and most obedient 
humble Servant William Gooch. 

Virginia 

W ms burgh June 29 th 1729 
My Lords 

The Military List I could not get compleated for this 
Conveyance. 



308 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 

Endorsed Virginia 

L r from Major Gooch 
L* Governor of Virginia 
dated y e 29 th of June 1729. 

Rec d 28 th August 

Read 2 d Septem 1 " 1729 

R. 120 



Governor Gooch's Letter In Regard to the Boundaries 

of The Northern Neck, Maryland and 

Pennsylvania. 

(Record Office, London. B. T. Virginia. Vol. 20. S. 32. 
Letter from Major Gooch. Feb. 8 th 1732/3.) 

My Lords. 

I have the honour of Your Lordships of the 13 th 7ber, 
with the papers your Lordships were pleased to send in Rela- 
tion to the Pretensions of the several Proprietors of Pensil- 
vania, Maryland and the Northern Neck, to the Lands lying 
Westward of the G 1 Mountains of Virginia 

In my letter of the 29 th of June 1729 I gave your Lord- 
ships a true state of the Dispute between the Crown and the 
L d Culpeper as to the Construction of his Grant: and I then 
humbly offered my opinion for determining that matter at 
Home, and I am still of opinion that the best and most ef- 
fectual way to do it, must be either by a Tryal in Westminstei 
Hall, or by the Arbitrament of Persons deputed, by the King 
and L d Fairfax,* for that Purpose, since by viewing the Mapp 
I sent your Lordships and comparing it with the Grant of 
King James the 2 d to L d Culpeper, and considering how far 
the Rivers Rappahannock and Potomack were then known, 
a true judgment may be formed what was the Intention of 
the Crown, and what ought to be the Boundarys conformable 
to that Intention and until such determination be made either 
by a legal Decision or Compromise. I am humbly of opinion 



BOUNDARIES OF THE NORTHERN NECK 309 

that appointing Commissioners here will prove a fruitless 
Labour and Expence. 

It is to be noted My Lords that the Rivers Rappahannock 
and Potomack took their Names from the Indian Nations in- 
habiting their respective Banks, and that the Places where 
these Indian Towns stood, when Virginia was first seated, and 
continued while there were any Remains of those Nations, are 
below the Falls of both Rivers, and where they are Navigable. 
What denomination Rappahannock had above its Falls, or the 
several Rivers had which form it, doth not certainly appear, 
tho' 'tis more than probable the Indians had other names for 
them ; for that part of Potomack River which has been lately 
discovered and settled above its Falls is known and called by 
the Indian Nations that have most commonly frequented it, 
by the name Cahongarooten, as all the other Rivers which 
fall into it are called by their several distinct names. So 
that if according to L d Culpepers Grant nothing Passes by the 
names Potomack or Rappahannock Rivers but as they were 
known and called at the time of its Date, my L d Fairfax can 
claim no farther Westward than the Falls of each River, or at 
the farthest where those Rivers begin to be one stream. But 
if His Majesty out of his more abundant Bounty, thinks fit 
to allow that Grant to extend up to the Head Spring of that 
River which forms the North Branch of the Rappahannock, 
then the BoiwTds must be runn from thence to the River Ca- 
hongarooten, where from the same Meridian the head. Spring 
of Rappahannock lyes in, and consequently must be Bounded 
by the ridge of Mountains, as your Lordships will see by the 
Mapp; and then L d Fairfax will have an extent of Territory 
upwards of Two Hundred Miles in length, and in some places 
thirty Miles broad; and His Majesty be at liberty to Settle a 
Barrier between this Colony and the Lakes, upon which the 
security of this and the other Provinces greatly depend. 

L d Fairfax's Agent here has laid down such strange Pre- 
tensions, as never, in my opinion, can be reconciled with the 
words of the Grant: They will have it that because the head 
Springs of both Rivers are mentioned in the Grant, His Lord- 



310 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 

shipp is not to be Bounded by the head of Rappahannock, 
but is to comprehend all the Rivers that fall into Potomack, 
wheresoever their Head-Springs or Sources take their Rise; 
and therefore because the River Shenanto or Sherando falls 
into Cahongarooten, they will have all the lands on that River 
as far South as the Borders of X° Carolina, and from thence 
all the Lands Westward and Northward to the Source of 
Cahongarooten to be within their Bounds, which would extend 
that Grant, confined plainly by the words of it between the 
two Rivers Rappahannock and Potomack, upwards of one 
hundred Miles beyound Rappahannock to the Southward, and 
above that distance to the West, and so to extend -North 
behind Maryland, intersecting the Province of Pensilvania. 

Your Lordships will hence Perceive how impracticable it is 
for Commissioners here to determine a Controversie so per- 
plexed, and how unequal any Commissioners here are like to 
prove for such a Task, where the Foundation, the Letters 
Pattent of the Crown are deemed altogether uncertain ; and 
neither the King was informed what he Granted, nor could 
the Pattentee know how to describe what he asked and would 
now extend his Claim beyond what ought to be allowed, or it 
can be supposed the Crown intended to bestow. 

I have enlarged the more fully, My Lords, on the Claim of 
L d Fairfax, because until that is determined, there is no occa- 
sion for His Majesty to interest himself in the dispute con- 
cerning the Boundarys of Maryland or Pensilvania : for if the 
Northern Neck Grant is judged as extensive as the Proprie- 
tor's Agent would have it, I know no Lands His Majesty hath 
to dispose of beyound the great Ridge of Mountains. She- 
nando, as laid down in the Mapp, runs paralel with that Ridge 
from the extremity of our Southern Boundary. Cahonga- 
rooten is said to have its source beyound the fortieth Degree 
of North Latitude, and intersecting the Boundarys of Pensil- 
vania runs on the West of Maryland, till it falls into Potomack 
River properly so called, — and the many Rivers which fall 
into Cahongarooten from the West, are said to interlock with 
the branches of the Messissippi So that the Lands in Virginia 



BOUNDARIES OF THE NORTHERN NECK 311 

which are in the Power of the Crown to Grant, are entirely 
cut off, and seperated from that which ly (sic) contiguous to 
the Lakes, by this extraordinary Claim under the Grant of 
the Northern Neck 

But since my Lords I can never suppose that such a Con- 
struction of the Northern Neck Grant will be allowed, and 
that your Lordships may receive all the Information I can 
give, I shall go on and state the difference between Virginia 
and L d Baltimore; His Lordship's Province of Maryland is 
bounded on the South, from the Sea, to Watkins's Point 
(which is not laid down in the Mapp I sent, but your Lord- 
ships may judge it to be on the South side of that River I 
should have said the South side of the Mouth of that River 
which runs out of Cheseapeak Bay into the Eastern shore) 
and thence cross Cheseapeak Bay to the South side of Poto- 
mack River (which River is in his Lordship's Grant, tho' in 
His Majesty's Instructions 'tis called a pretended Right, and 
I am thereby directed to assert His Majesty's Right) and so 
that River continues the Limit between His Lordship and 
Virginia. On the North his Ldshipp is bounded by a West 
line (where they are to sett out is not yett, as I hear, agreed 
upon, 'tis conjectured about Delaware River or Sasafras 
River, but that is not material) which is to extend as far 
Westward as the true Meridian of the first fountain of Poto- 
mack; by which, my Lords it is evident that the first Fountain 
of Potomack was then supposed to be somewhere to the South 
of that line, otherwise it would have been more properly ex- 
pressed, by extending that line Westward till it intersected 
Potomack River, and so have made that River the Western 
Limit, as well as it is the Southern of his Lordship's Grant. 
Hence I think it clear, my Lords, that neither in the Grant to 
Maryland, nor that to my L d Culpeper, Potomack River was 
ever imagined to extend so far as the River Cahongarooten 
doth and if L d insists on that as Potomack, and if it be true 
that its Source takes its Course from the North-east, as it is 
generally reported, then a line drawn from that Meridian to 
Potomack River, properly so called, will cut off a large Tract 



312 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 

now inhabited under Grant from L d Baltimore as part of his 
province: and some People here are so confident of this, that 
they have Petitioned me for Grants of large Tracts of Land 
there as belonging to Virginia, which Petitions are referred 
till the Boundarys be settled. Others argue that by the first 
Fountain of Potomack, his Lordships West line can extend no 
farther than till it falls on the first River on its Course, which 
emptys itself into Potomack, of which it seems there are many 
on that side of Cahongarooten, as well as on the other, and 
they pretend to know that River called Cahongarooten 
Conneichiga t [by another hand, F. P. transcriber.] is that 
which the line between Maryland and Pensilvania will first in- 
tersect, and have their eye upon Lands on the Westside of that 
River as undoubtedly in Virginia; in which case Lord Balti- 
more will lose less, and have his Limits sooner ascertained, 
than by tracing Cahongarooten to its Source, and then running 
a South line from thence according to his Charter 
The Grant of Pensilvania is the only one whose Western 
limit is capable of being reduced to a certainty consistent with 
the Description mentioned in the Letters Patent : and if the 
Proprietors of that Province and L d Baltimore shall agree to 
run the line of Division between them, and to measure as far 
as that extends, the rest of the five Degrees of Longitude, 
which is the extent of Pensilvania, may with small Expence 
and no Dispute be measured and fixed so as no Controversy 
may arise hereafter. 

Since therefore, My Lords, there appears such uncertainty 
in the Description of the Boundarys of these Proprietary 
Grants, made without due Information or Knowledge of what 
was intended to be Passed to the several Patentees ; and since 
the Proprietors are neither like to agree amongst themselves 
where their Boundarys are, nor how they Interfere, nor seem 
to be contented with what may reasonably be supposed the 
Crown granted them ; it is high time to take some speedy 
Measures to put an end to these Disputes, and the rather since 
there is now a View of having great numbers of foreign 



t For the Alteration vide Major Gooch's letter to the Secr'y dated 
. . July [in another hand]. 



BOUNDARIES OF THE NORTHERN NECK 313 

Protestants to seat these Frontiers, and thereby prevent the 
French, an oppertunity if lett slip, perhaps may never be 
retrieved. 

But I cannot leave this Subject without representing to 
your Lordships that the erecting new Provinces and Gov- 
ernments will be attended with many Inconveniences : such as 
the weakness of an Infant Settlement to support itself; the 
difficulty of bringing Foreigners to the knowledge and under 
the Subjection of the English Laws, where they are left to 
themselves and not Incorporated with an English Govern- 
ment ; the disputes that may arise concerning their Boundarys, 
if a Tract of Land should be Granted them, the true Limits 
whereof cannot be with certainty described, besides many 
others which 'tis needless to trouble Your Lordships with. 

I should rather, if your Lordships will give me Leave, ad- 
vise if they are to be Settled within the Limitts of Virginia, 
that His Majesty would leave it to the Government here to 
assign them lands proportionable to their Number, and to 
Grant them distinct Patents, with exemption for seven or tenn 
years from Payment of Quitrents, and such other ease in the 
manner of taking and cultivating as His Majesty shall think 
reasonable for their Encouragement ; and care may be taken 
here that no more Land than is already entered for on the 
back of the Mountains will be granted to any other Person 
whatsoever till they have their full complement assigned them, 
all which I submitt to your Lordships better judgment. 

My Lords, I have made all the Inquiry I can into the mat- 
ter sett forth in M rs Jones's letter, and can only find, and I 
am perswaded 'tis all that is in it, that one D r Watkins and 
some other necessitous People have imposed upon some Gen- 
tlemen of Estates, and drawn them into buying Shares of a 
Silver Mine they pretended, at first, they had found on the 
back of the Mountains, tho' they afterwards reported it near 
Sasquehannah River in the Province of Maryland, and hav- 
ing showed something which they affirmed to be silver oar, 
it proved to be only antimony, and the Gentlemen concerned 
are now convinced it is a Cheat put upon them for which they 



314 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 

paid in advance about £20 p man. However I shall have a 
watchful eye over them, and if I can discover any appearance 
of a Royal Mine shall give speedy notice of it to Your Lord- 
ships 

I am, My Lords, Your Lordships 

most dutiful and most faithful humble Servant 
William Gooch. 
Virginia 

W ms burgh 
February 8 th 1732/ 3 

This comes by a ship to Leverpool. 

[Endorsed] Virginia. 

L r from Maj' e Gooch Lieutent Gov 1 ' of Virginia, dated y e 
gth £ j? eD y 1732/3 giving a large State of the dispute about 
the Boundaries between that Government and y e Northern 
neck Maryland & Pensylvania, occasioned by a Petition for a 
New Settlement on the back of the Great Mountains, and 
about a pretended Silver Mine found there. 



Reced 25 th May 1733 
Read Septem 16 : 1734 



S:32. 



Report of The Commissioners to Settle The Boundaries 
of the Northern Neck. 

(From a document in the Library of Congress) 

[Incomplete] 

We shall now take notice of the Principal Matters con- 
tained in their several Reports together with the Proofs and 
Grounds upon which they proceeded. 

The Commissioners appointed by the Lieutenant Governor 
of Virginia in behalf of the Crown in their Report say, — 

"That they took their Survey of the Main Branch of the 



BOUNDARIES OF THE NORTHERN NECK 315 

River Potowmack (called Cohongoronton) from its Conflu- 
ence with Sharando and so upwards beyond the Blew Moun- 
tains to its first Spring Head, and of the River Rapahannock 
from its Fork, pursuing both North and South Branch to the 
Spring Heads likewise and found the North Branch to be 
wider at the mouth than the South by 3 Poles Nine Links. 
That they can find no evidence that the Fork of Rapahannock 
was known at the time of Lord Culpeper's Grant. That Lord 
Fairfax has produced no evidence to support his Pretension 
to the South Branch. But they, the said Commissioners, offer 
some in support of his Majesty's which are chiefly arguments, 
inferences, and deductions drawn partly from the sense of the 
Legislature in Virginia and partly from Grants of the Crown. 
They thus pursue their account of the river Potowmack and 
refer to the Deposition of Thomas Harrison 3 taken upon oath 
before them "That the Falls of Potomack were not known 
fifty years ago". They further say "That the Lands at or 
near the falls were not granted till 1709, and that it was not 
known that the River runs through the Mountains till several 
years after, That the River loses its name at the Confluence 
and is called by the Indians as it goes higher up Cohongaron- 
ton and Sharando, and conclude "That the Fork may not 
therefore be improperly called the Head", which opinion they 
endeavor to corroborate by saying "That as the Head of 
Potowmack stretches beyond the Blew Mountains and that of 
Rappahannock reaches no higher than those mountains they 
could not be intended as Boundarys by the Grant of King 
James since the one reaches Two Hundred Miles above the 
other". 

They conclude their Report by Stating four several Boun- 
daries for the Lord Fairfax's Grant and mention what quan- 
tity of land each of those Boundaries contains. 

"The first from the Fork of Rappahannock to the Fork of 
Potomac containing 1,476,000 acres of Land. 

3 Thomas Harrison, whose deposition was taken in 1736, was born 
in 1665 and died in 1746. He lived at Chappawamsic, Stafford 
County, to which his father Burr Harrison had come in the Seven- 
teenth century. For an account of the Harrison family see this 
Magazine XXIII and XXIV. 



316 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 

"The Second from the head of Hedgeman River to the Fork 
of Potomac containing 2,030,000 acres of Land. 

"The Third from the Hedgeman River to the Head Spring 
of Cohongoronton containing 3,872,000 acres of Land. 

"And the Fourth from the head of Conway River to the 
Head Spring of Cohongoronton including the Great and Little 
Fork of Rapahannock containing 5,282,000 acres of Land. 

The Papers referred to in their Report are 

1st, The Governor's Commission to them which was to Ex- 
amine, Settle and Determine 

2nd, Lord Fairfax's to them which is only to Survey and 
Report, 

3d. Lord Fairfax's Commission to Mess rs Carter, Beverly 
and Fairfax, which was to Survey and Report only. 

4th, Deposition taken upon oath of John Taliaferro 4 , Fran- 
cis Thornton and William Russell, who severally declare there 
were no Inhabitants on either side of the river so high as the 
Falls even so late as the year 1707. 

5th, A General Map of the Delineation of the Courses of 
the Rivers from the Parts where they began their survey up 
to their respective Spring Heads. 

6th, A Copy of a Grant from the Lord Culpeper to Mr. 
Brent and others in 1686 of Land to be laid out six miles dis- 
tant at least from the Main Rivers of Rappahannock and Po- 
towmack which being laid down in their map as taking its 
Distance from the North Stream they quote it to shew that 

* John Taliaferro, son of Robert Taliaferro, the emigrant, was a 
justice of Essex County, Sheriff, Lieutenant of Rangers against the 
Indians and, in 1699, member of the House of Burgesses. He mar- 
ried Sarah, daughter of Major Lawrence Smith, of Gloucester 
County, and had ten children. 

Francis Thornton (born Jan. 4, 1682) settled at Snow Creek near 
the present Fredericksburg about 1702. He was a Burgess for 
Spotsylvania in 1723 and 1726, and was ancestor of the Thorntons, 
of "Fall Hill", Spotsylvania, and others. 

In 1724, William Russell, of Drysdale parish, King and Queen 
County, bought 614 acres in Spotsylvania from Loyd and Chew, and, 
as of St. Georges parish, Spotsylvania, sold the same tract in 1725. 
On Dec. 1, 1730, he (William Russell, gent.,) bought the interest of 
George Hume in two land grants of 6,000 and 10,000 acres. In 1755 
he lived in Culpeper County. He was the father of Brig. General 
William Russell, of the Revolution. 



MB 10 3. 



BOUNDARIES OF THE NORTHERN NECK 317 

the Original Patentee always understood the North Branch to 
be the main branch. 

7th, Governor Nott's Grant to Henry Beverly, Esqr. of 
1920 acres in Essex County, ten Miles above the Falls of 
Rapahannock in November 1705. 

8th, Two Grants from the Governor to Robert Carter, 
Esqr. for Land in the Fork of Rapahannock twelve Miles and 
more above the Falls in January 1717. 

9th, Two Grants to Philip Ludwell, Esqr. from Lady Cul- 
peper of 5860 acres above the falls in June 1709. 

10th, Henry Willis's Patent for 3,000 acres of land in the 
Little Fork of Rapahannock from Governor Carter in Feb- 
ruary 1726. 

nth, The Deposition of Thomas Harrison, who declares 
upon oath that the falls of Potomac were not known Fifty 
years ago, dated in June 1737. 

1 2th, Letters Patent from King Charles the Second to the 
Earl of St. Albans and others. 

13th, Letters Patent from King James the Second to Lord 
Culpeper. 

The Commissioners for the Lord Fairfax in their Report 
give an account "That the Dispute between the Crown and 
the Lord Fairfax being which is the Main River of Rappahan- 
nock the North or the South Branch as appears by the order 
of the Governor and Council of Virginia in 1706 to which 
they refer, as also which is the first Head or Spring of Po- 
towmack, they have Surveyed and Measured up the River 
Potowmack from the Mouth of Sherando and that of Rappa- 
hannock from the falls to their respective Heads or Springs, 
and are of opinion that a Line run from the first Head or 
Spring of the South or Main Branch of Rappahannock to the 
first Head or Spring of the River Potowmack is and ought to 
be the boundary line determining the said Tract or Territory 
of Land commonly called the Northern Neck, They refer 
themselves to the evidences produced by the King's Commis- 
sioners (quoted in the other report) that the two Branches of 
Rappahannock were always called the North and South 



318 VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 

Rivers, not North and South Fork, and that the name of 
Rapidan was given to this latter by Col. Spotswood when 
Governor, as also to a Declaration of one Mr. John Tallia- 
ferro that the Heads or Springs of the said two Branches 
were known in 1682, and to their own Surveyor's Report in 
proof that the South Branch was the Widest. They say their 
own Surveyor made a mistake in going up Conway instead 
of Thornton river, which they have caused to be dotted in 
token of the Lord Fairfax's claiming it. 

The papers referred to in the above Report are — 

1st, The Order of the Governor and Council of Virginia in 
1706 directing a survey to be made of the two branches of 
Rappahannock to see which is the Main Branch. This order 
is referred to by the Lord Fairfax's Commissioners to obviate 
the objections made of the Forks never having been claimed 
by the Proprietors or their agents. 

2nd, The evidences produced by the King's Commiss 1 ' 8 of 
which We have already given your Lordships an account. 

3rd, A Declaration of John Taliaferro. This Declaration 
is annexed to the above mentioned order of 1706 and is only 
a copy and not upon oath. It contains that about Tzventy-four 
years ago he in company with Colonel Cadwallader Jones 
had been at the Heads or Springs of the said ttvo branches 
and that in his judgment and that of the company with him 
the South Branch was the biggest and headed in the Moun- 
tains. 

4th, The Surveyor's Report, which ascertains that the South 
Stream was twenty-one Miles longer than the other. 



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